[Development] QUIP 12: Code of Conduct

[Jason H]

My fundamental problem about the Contributor Covenant[1] was initially and solely the fallout from the Linux Kernel fiasco. But then I learned that it was drafted by Coraline Ada Ehmke, who sought to have a contributor removed [2] from a project preemptively. The contributor did nothing wrong with respect to the project or the project's community.  She constructed a claim of "transphobia" based on a tweet the contributor wrote in no way relating to the project at hand, and slandered the project for not expunging them. My mind is made up: the Contributor Covenant is a tool of oppression.

The specific sentence in the Covenant is:
"This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or its community." 

However, despite being the author of the Covenant (2014), she found it appropriate to attack someone who was clearly not operating in a project space or representing the project community (2015). We now have two examples - the linux Kernel and Opal project, that after CC was enacted that calls for removal of members based on past unrelated tweets went out. One of the problems its politics and political climates change over time. Expressing what is not political at one point in time may become political in subsequent years. People's minds also change over time.

I urge you to read link[3] below and see if we want that kind of attention. It summarizes what happens when the CC has been adopted by other projects.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributor_Covenant
[2] https://github.com/opal/opal/issues/941
[3] https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/974038-why-the-linux-coc-is-bad/

> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 at 3:50 AM
> From: "Christian Kandeler" <Christian.Kandeler at qt.io>
> To: "development at qt-project.org" <development at qt-project.org>
> Subject: Re: [Development] QUIP 12: Code of Conduct
>
> On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 19:39:45 +0200
> André Pönitz <apoenitz at t-online.de> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Oct 25, 2018 at 09:51:00AM +0200, Volker Krause via Development wrote:
> > > We do have a Code of Conduct at KDE for about 10 years now, and this hasn't 
> > > led to abuse of power, suppression of free speech, racism against white people 
> > > or whatever other nonsense people seem to attribute to CoCs nowadays.  
> > 
> > The KDE CoC is *friendly*. It contains words like "considerate", "pragmatic",
> > "support". It doesn't push someone's personal political agenda.  
> 
> I agree. It reads as if it was written with the intention of creating a constructive environment, lacks the inquisition-y vibe and is free of jargon and weirdly over-specific lists.
> 
> 
> Christian
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